History Doesn't Erase Itself Unless You Get Shot
by kirki101
Summary: The Courier/Lone Wanderer has seen it all, and nothing scares her more than her past. What exactly will she recall as she and a haunted sniper take on the Mojave and, later, the man who drove her there in the first place?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just a little story I've been working through in my head for months. I couldn't help but post it.**

**The setting is post NCR ending. My courier and Boone joined First Recon, and the NCR moved east to take over the capitol. i know the timeline doesn't fit for my courier to be the same person as the Lone Wanderer, but dang it it's a video game and I'll screw the timeline up if I wanna! :P Anyway, this first chapter is kinda just a back story to the courier's mischief in the Mojave. Enjoy! I revised a few things, such as stupid spelling mistakes. Ahh... it was kind of embarrassing seeing so many misspelled words. I am lost without spell check. xD **

History&Faithfulness

My throat tightened as the final pieces of my memory fit elegantly back into place. My breath caught in my throat. My nostrils flared.

Damn you, Butch. Damn you straight to hell.

He knew it was me even with the changes Doc Mitchell made to my face, and the cosmetic surgery the auto-doc in the big MT had given me. Even though I was wearing a red beret that the brotherhood would shoot me on sight for wearing. Even though my guard was completely down.

"Leah," Butch was saying as I continued to stare past him at the broken down rubble that was Megaton, attempting to block his words. I couldn't reopen these wounds. I wouldn't let this prick do that to me. "Amata doesn't mean anything. You got to understand baby, I thought you were dead. When you left-"

I drew my Q35-module plasma rifle. "Don't try to feed me that shit, Butch! I left because you were sleeping with her!"

His face paled. "Baby I don't know what-"

Amata, the arrogant bitch, looked up. "Give it up Butch. She's been out here too long to listen to reason. She's as good as dead now!"

"Fuck you, Amata! At least I haven't been wasting away in a vault. You the one who's as good as dead. You're already six feet under!" I turned back to Butch as she shied away. "I trusted you." I took a step forward. "How many more of my friends have you slept with, Butch? Did you have sex with Sarah Lyons, too? What about Sydney?" I tightened my grip on my rifle, struggling not to pull the trigger and end his stupid worthless life. "What about-"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, a single light in darkness.

Boone.

"He's not worth our time, Leah. Come on. Veronica's getting impatient."

I closed my eyes and placed my hand over his, which was still lingering on my shoulder. A stab a peacefulness crept though me briefly. Then it was gone, and the anguish I had been suppressing for so long rose to the surface. My eyes watered, and I dropped my gun, falling to the dirty ground. Boone crouched besides me, slowly rubbing circles into my back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Butch soften. For a moment, he was the ridiculously cute and innocent little boy I fell in love with back in Vault 101.

Then I saw the way he was clutching Amata's waist, and I remembered. I remembered everything.

And it hurt. Bad. A double-edged blade, slowly slicing my flesh.

* * *

><p>Low moans of ecstasy, a light-hearted giggle as he touched her in just the right spot. I squinted, barely making out two forms on MY bed. One male, one female.<p>

"Butch, babe, what if she-" A squeal.

"She's out scavenging, A. We'll hear that stupid mutt before we see her. It's okay. I'll have you back to the vault in no time."

"Uhhh…." 'A' leaned her head back in contentment as the man left a trail of kisses down her neck. "The vault. I don't… wanna go back."

There was a pause. "You have to babe. Your dad will have my head on a platter if I don't get you home soon..."

"Okay," Amata sounded resigned. "But I get to come back soon, right?" There was a grunt of agreement. "And you'll tell Leah about us soon, right...?"

There was a pause, and all movement seemed to halt. "I don't know, Amata. I don't know if I can. She's... I don't know."

"Dammit, Butch!" Amata roughly pulled away. "You said you loved me! What's the deal with trying to stay with her?"

Butch sighed. "I love her, too, you know."

My heart was beating fast in my chest. I could feel my pulse in my ears, and my vision was distorted by my tears. He was talking about me, cheating on me, and he had the nerve to say that he loved me. What a load.

I heard a feminine sigh. "But you love me more. I know. You told me."

"Yeah, but I can't just turn my back on her. She's done so much for me..."

"And I haven't?" Amata turned away, and hung her head. "The overseer, my dad, wanted to throw you and every one of the tunnel snakes out of the vault. He thought that you were all a load of garbage. But I told him not to! Because I love you more than that blonde bimbo ever could."

Butch seemed torn. "But she's helped me out here! Where it's life or death. You don't get it Amata. You've only been out here on little field trips. You always had a home to return to. She was kicked out of her home! BY YOU! After she even spared your dad's life twice. And the first time, he wanted to kill you. It wasn't fair."

"I told you why I did that! It was for us! If she had been allowed to stay there, then you would have dumped me just like you did in the vault when you thought she was going to sleep with you. Face it, Butch. You're a toy to her."

_That's not true, you skank! _I wanted to shout. But I couldn't. I couldn't move my feet to stop listening to this conversation that was breaking my heart, I couldn't even turn my head to stop looking at them. Butch's resolve was shattering. He was going to believe her.

And there was nothing I could do about it except avoid watching it.

So I ran out of my house, out of Megaton and out of the capitol wasteland. Leaving all my memories, and the corpses of my family, and every person I'd ever killed behind me.

And it wasn't until months later that I looked back.

* * *

><p>I was in what the old world called Tennessee before I stopped to rest. This part of the wastes wasn't really inhabited except by a few brotherhood outcasts that were looking for an adventure. But, then, if there were no people, there was very little for me to do except walk.<p>

I really hated that I'd left all my guns. All I had was a generic laser pistol on my hip and a couple of combat knives strapped cleverly to my ankles. I already missed my many special plasma rifles. But it didn't matter. I had had to get away from those people. I knew I would have ended up attacking Amata, then Butch would have gone psycho. So I had done what any normal scared and freaked out little girl had done.

I ran.

It was the smartest decision I had made since leaving the vault two years ago. Even if it meant leaving irreplacable treasures behind.

I sat down in the dirt. The wastes were pretty much the same here as they were in the capitol. Highways that had cracked and fallen, old weathered roads that hadn't been traveled in years. But strangely, my pip boy still had a map of the area. Huh. Old world technology had its uses.

I was tired, and had no idea where I was going. I probably would have turned around and forgotten the conversation I had heard if not for the vertibird that I saw floating in the sky at that particular moment.

It landed right next to me.

"Dammit," I muttered and brought out my laser pistol. "Enclave remnants."

They were clad in power armor, but it wasn't the standard Enclave armor. It was brotherhood. Still suspicious, I only lowered my gun an inch.

The tallest one, and the one that was obviously the leader took off his helmet and spoke. "Woah, there. Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." He put his helmet underneath his arm. "We were just flying by and saw you sit down." He smiled sheepishly. "It's not every day you see a pretty girl walking alone in the desert."

I shrugged. "I needed to get out of the house for a while." I holstered my gun, but was still thinking about the best ways to reach it or my knives if this conversation ended badly. "You brotherhood, or outcast?"

He chuckled. "Brotherhood. We're part of Lyon's pride. We're new recruits. We were sent out this way to go check on a different chapter of the brotherhood."

"How new?" I thought I knew everyone in Lyon's pride, being an honorary member, and all.

"We were dispatched yesterday, and were sent on this mission today." He looked me in the eye. "I understand your mistrust, but believe me, none of these chuckleheads will give you any trouble. The way you held that gun makes me think that arming ourselves wouldn't do any good."

I smiled. Kid has potential. "Smart move. So where you headed?" I asked casually, trying not to make myself sound like someone desperate to escape their own mind for a while.

"The Mojave. There's a chapter up there that we got a distress call from a while back. Apparently they started a war with the organized government over there."

I looked at the vertibird, then looked back at the kid that was probably no older than 20. Not that I was too much older, I was only 22. But still, him with his longish light brown hair and warm green eyes and childish features, I could tell you that he didn't deserve this. No one deserves the life of a wastelander. The world we live in today is cruel, and there wasn't a person anywhere you should ever trust. Before I had decided to forget about this poor kid and move on, I smiled at him and asked, "Mind if I tag along? I'm an honorary member of Lyon's pride." Thankfully, I had remembered my Brotherhood dogtag and still had my standard brotherhood tattoo on my chest.

The kid widened his eyes. "Wait... You're THE Lone Wanderer! I was wondering why you were out here all alone." He extended his hand to me. "This is a huge honor. Leah isn't it? My name's Atch. Atch Gorde. We would be honored to let you on our vertibird." He released my hand, and I smiled.

"I was hoping you'd say that. I'm about to die of boredom here."

We shared a smile. He was still slightly in awe, and I caught him looking at my chest, trying to see some skin through my merc charmer outfit that I had forgotten to change out of before I left, but other than that he was a good kid.

Atch didn't even know what hit him when we crashed.

* * *

><p>After we were gunned down by something, I checked to see if any of the remaining members of the little fleet Sarah had dispensed here was still breathing. Atch was dead, as was almost all of his team. The only one left was the small guy with permanent fear in his eyes.<p>

I snatched a laser rifle off of one of the dead bodies, and motioned for the short guy to follow me out of the vertibird. We had been almost there when the missiles had first hit us. Atch had said it would only be a few hours longer.

Then the glass shattered, and his face was cut to shreds.

I glanced around, trying to identify if we could get out of this alive. There weren't any actual human soldiers as I expected, they were all just old malfunctioning Mr. Handy robots and Protectrons. I looked at my companion. "Hey. When I tell you to run, run. Okay?"

He wimpered. That didn't seem very promising, but I was out of time here. So I pulled out my only pulse grenade and tossed it. The robots were stunned, but I knew they weren't dead. We had to move fast. "Run!"

He didn't run very well. He screamed and ran back inside the vertibird. I briefly comptemplated going back for him, but then I saw him shoot himself through the shattered window.

"Over kill much?" i shouted to his corpse. I shook my head, and took off before the robots regained their bearings.

You gotta have willpower to live in the wasteland.

Alrighty then. This chapter one. I didn't really wanna post this cause its kinda badly written, but i was bored. So lets see what kind of response this gets. Bye friends!


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I am not the owner of the incredibly amazing Fallout franchise. Bethesda is the best gaming company in the world, and I have no intention of taking the glory away from them. I am simply expanding upon ideas that they gave to us in the form of a video game._

* * *

><p>Chewing on my lip, I wondered where the heck I was. Faintly, I could see a tower. I cocked my head to the side. How is a tower that big still standing? Better yet, how are the lights glowing with anything except radiation? Obviously, this place didn't get hit nearly as bad as D.C.<p>

I decided to not inspect the tower, as it probably would have led me into something that would have killed me in the long run. So I walked in the opposite direction.

After walking for another few hours, I came across a little farmhouse will a weathered lady plowing her field. "Hey. Ma'am?" She glanced up at me wearily.

"Yes?" Her voice just sounded tired.

I took pity on her. "Need some help?"

Her eyes widened and narrowed within a matter of seconds. "What?"

"With your work. You look tired. I can help."

She brushed her hands off on her filthy apron. "I ain't got no money."

I chuckled. "I have plenty of caps. I don't need yours." I walked closer to her, and took the hoe from her hands. "I also have plenty of water." I offered her a bottle of my Aqua-pura. She reluctantly took it, glancing at the label.

"Aqua-pura?"

I nodded, and started plowing the field where she left off. "Pure water straight from the Capitol Wastes." She sat down in the dirt beside me while I displaced dirt, leaving room for planting.

After I finished several rows, I asked her, still working, "So where am I, exactly?"

She was staring at her water as if it would jump up and run away if she loosened her grip at all. "California. Shady Sands, actually."

I nearly tripped over the dirt. "What?" Had the vertibird taken me that far? I shook my head. Whatever. "Is there Brotherhood here?"

She stared at me. "NCR would shoot 'em on sight if they were. They just overtook one of their bases in the Mojave about a week ago."

I turned back to the dirt. So this was the government the Brotherhood started a war with. Interesting. "NCR?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

The lady looked at me like I was crazy. "New California Republic. You been livin' under a rock, lady?"

"No." I laughed as I plowed the last section. "Just under the ground."

She stood and took the gardening tool from between my fingers. "Thanks for the help, but I should get back inside. My pa would be awful mad if he saw me talkin' to you."

I frowned. "Okay. Nice talking to you."

"Likewise." She rushed off.

I shrugged. Whatever. Locals around here don't worship the ground I walk on. That's fine.

Still slightly pensive, I cast a troubled glance back toward the east. What had I gotten myself into?

[BREAK] 2 MONTHS LATER

*Leah*

Still slightly disheartened by the bullets to the head I'd taken only two days earlier, it was understandable that I might be seeing things. But a dinosaur? A giant reptilian animal that had supposedly existed billions of years ago? Come on. Let's be realistic Leah's ever-so-creative mind. But it was a pretty persistant little self-generated image. It still didn't go away after I chugged a bottle of water.

ED-E was springing delicately in the air behind me. I turned half my body. "You see that thing, too, ED-E?" I squinted. "Either that thing is really there, or one of the things I don't remember about myself is that I'm crazy." ED-E beeped. I glared at the self-propelling eye bot. "Yeah, yeah. Hallucinations or no, I'm crazy anyway. I get it. Ha ha." Serves me right for talking to a robot.

But the dinosaur continued to get closer, and a town began to form around it. Another glance at the scene in front of me and much mulling over earlier conversations, a detail I'd neglected earlier clicked into place. "Ah. So that's what Lieutenant Hayes meant by 'distinguishing features.' Cool." I clicked my tongue.

Upon further examination, I noticed the dinosaur was composed of metal, and was holding a sign that was so weathered by wind and sand that it was nearly impossible to read. Not that I'd bothered. "That'd be a dang good place to camp out, if there was any way inside." I explained to ED-E.

As if I'd written it that way myself, I saw the barrel of a sniper stick out of the dinosaur's mouth. I looked to ED-E. "Can I call 'em, or what?" ED-E's response was coated with sarcasm. "Hey! I'm not the one that thought there was a real dinosaur here, stupid!" The reply I received was outraged. "Oh… Was I? Aw, cut me a little slack. That guy in the checkered coat was using hollow point rounds." A condescending beep followed. "Yeah? Well I have some .308s you can help me test…" Silence. "That's what I thought."

With a final glance at the Mojave sun that had just begun to fade, I walked toward the somewhat rickety stairs that led towards a dinosaur's mouth.

*Boone*

I sighed as the sun began to set. It was almost time for me to head back into my twelve-hours-a-day prison. Also known as 'Dinky the Dinosaur.' I hated that stupid thing. It was cramped, stuffy, and more often than not, incredibly boring. We hardly ever got legion this far west, and other than the occasional powder ganger party, we got nothing. Freaking frag mines could keep them out of this hellhole. But they paid me well enough, and sometimes I could catch some sleep if it was cool enough.

After taking a final swig of water, I grabbed my scoped hunting rifle from my bed and a few .308 rounds and walked out, slamming the door behind me.

As I neared Dinky's mouth, I heard shouting.

"So would it be safe to assume that you require special dirt from Canada so you'll tell me-"

"Hey! Don't try that bullshit. I'm just trying to help my town-"

"By telling me to go investigate some place that you're assuming is swarming with ferals? I can't stand those things. The glowing ones really piss me off."

I recognized the first voice as Manny Vargas, my spotter in first recon. The second voice, though, was someone new.

"I really don't have time for this. Will you go or not?"

There was a pause. I took the opportunity to push the door open.

All three figures turned to see the obtrusion. Vargas, a strange robot, and a blonde woman clad in leather armor and a fierce grimace.

Said woman turned back to my old friend. "Fine. But if I decide to blow your face off after you tell me what you know, consider it repayment."

Vargas rolled his eyes and pushed past me. "Whatever, lady." He paused for a second. "Watch out, man. Chick's lethal." He seemed to forget that I hated him. Funny.

The girl looked tired. "So much for not making enemies." She was looking at her robot as she spoke.

I shrugged, knowing full well she wasn't talking to me. "Manny's a bitch to get along with."

She laughed. "He's not so bad. I'm just really frustrated. Dammit!" She aimed a kick at one of Dinky's teeth. Taking out all your anger on Dinky isn't a bad release, but is very unresponsive. I would know.

Gosh, I missed Carla.

I tried not to think about her, knowing I would just be putting myself through more unnecessary grief, no matter how much I deserved it, but my thoughts weren't very evasive. They always seemed to find a way back to her. Her red ringlet curls, her sparkling green eyes, her fierce passion for the son or daughter she carried inside of her… and knowing that I was the one that erased all that. Silenced her. Took her out for good.

And it fucking hurt. Always.

Not that I was the one who'd sold her. Of course not. I'd hated the legion long before they'd stolen my wife in the dead of night. But I was still the one who'd silenced her. Well, me, and a single .308 caliber round. That had been the first time I'd been thankful for my accuracy since Bitter Springs. Another shot, and I'd have been overwhelmed with pain.

The girl sighed, and held her hand out. "Name's Leah. 'Lone Star' Leah."

I took it, numbly shaking. "Boone. Just Boone."

Leah took a step back, and gazed out into the wasteland. "So, Just Boone. What hell did you walk out of?"

I felt more than a little bit analytical as I said, "What place isn't hell in a world like this?"

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so I really really really didn't want to spend too much time in the Mojave. But… I couldn't help myself. It had been a very long time since I'd updated, and I felt bad. I have also decided that I will have weekly updates (on this story, since I have it mostly complete). Most chapters will be about this length, except maybe a wee bit longer. I don't want to promise too much, though, because I have this story written down in my journal and it all depends on how much I feel like typing.<strong>

**-Kirsten**


	3. Chapter 3

**Leah**

Boone locked his jaw, obviously torn by some internal battle. Sadly, he shook his head and turned back to me, exasperation evident in his features. "What are you still doing here?"

Startled, I looked up, then chuckled darkly. "Out-staying my welcome, obviously. As usual." I turned to walk out wondering why the cute ones were always so hateful when his hand caught my shoulder.

"Wait," part of him seemed to want to recruit my help. I could tell. Don't ask me how. Call it a sixth sense. He just had the same expression on his face that so many others had summoned moments before begging me for my services. Helping people wasn't always fun or even safe, but it suited me fine. I didn't really have much else to do except find the guy who shot me, as I couldn't recall what my original objectives had been. Sometimes I was inconvenienced slightly by the needs of others, but just seeing someone's life be just a tad less miserable in post-apocalyptia made me feel a little less terrible about everything.

After I rose an eyebrow at him and shifted my weight to my other foot, he sighed and spoke, his voice low and troubled. "I need you to do something for me."

I drew up a corner of my mouth in amusement. "Why would you need anyone to do anything for you with muscles like that? Damn, how'd you get so built?"

Without responding to my comment directly, he continued speaking. "It's not so much a task as… an investigation."

Cheerily, I giggled. "Do I get to play Sherlock Holmes?"

He looked confused for a second, then rolled his eyes. Oh. Duh, Leah. Not everyone shares your love for ancient literature.

"No." He flicked a piece of dirt away from his shoulder. "I need you to find the son of a bitch that sold my wife."

**Boone**

He expression flashed from amused to horror-struck in a split second. She seemed to be waiting for further explanation. I stayed silent.

Leah swallowed. "Sold… Sold your wife? To who? Powder Gangers? Because I just cleaned out the NCR correctional facility, and I didn't see any-"

I furiously shook my head. I wished it had just been a bunch of spoiled convicts. I could have handled that. "No. Legion."

She was taken aback. "Outdated Romans that can't read correctly and insist on pronouncing Caesar's name wrong?"

I was only mildly surprised. I knew the Legion was going to try to make a push for the Hoover Dam sooner or later. And I'd be ready for them when they come. "Had a run in with them?"

The young blonde leaned against Dinky's cheek. "Yeah. I walked in on them having fun destroying Nipton. Shady town, but they didn't deserve that. No one does." Her face turned triumphant and cruel. "But ED-E and I took care of them. It was some guy called… Vulpes Inculta?"

I had to admit that if she was telling the truth, I was more than a little bit impressed. Inculta had killed more than his share of our soldiers. "He's one of the most highly regarded officers in Caesar's court."

Popping her neck, she murmured, "Not anymore."

I shook my head in awe. This was a girl you wouldn't want to meet in a dark ally at three in the morning.

She glanced up, her sharp blue eyes meeting mine with reckless abandon. "Back to your wife. How exactly do you want to do this?"

I blinked. "Do what?"

"Are we going to charge in and rescue her with no consideration for our own safety… Choose the stealth route and slit their throats while they're eating dinner…I need a bit more of an indication so I know what kind of weapons to get."

Her compassion to save my dead wife was admirable. "Carla's dead. I want the bastard that sold her."

I could practically see the light bulb flicker on above her head. "Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry—"

I cut her off. "Don't worry about it." I kept my eyes down. "Just get me proof of the guy who sold her."

"I—I'll do it, but, why won't you?"

I smirked. Truth was, I couldn't look any of these people in the eye anymore. I lived in constant suspicion that one of them had been the reason my gorgeous wife was dead. But, then, if any of them were innocent, my reason was guilt. Gnawing, crushing, guilt. Some of these people, Carla had been friends with. Most of them, she hated. But if the few friends she had had known that I'd been the one who killed her, I'd have been overcome with the weight of it all. "I have my reasons." I said simply. "When you know who's to blame, send them out in front of the dinosaur, and put my beret on." I offered it to her. She took it, carefully examining the surface of the only symbol of the NCR I bore. "I'll take care of the rest."

"You work nights, I'd assume?"

"You catch on fast."

"That's not the only thing I'm good at." With that vague response, she called to her robot, and set off down the stairs.

It wasn't until she was gone that I realized she'd left without asking for a reward.

**Leah**

So that's why he was so broody and passive. His wife's dead.

Briefly, in the back of my mind, I wondered if I had any such spouse (preferably a husband, fate…) to come home to. What had possessed me to accept such a reckless job? Maybe it had been instinct. Or maybe I'd needed the money. Or, more likely, I was bored. If my former self was anything like my current self, that seems possible.

And what kind of a jerkwad would reject a mission just because he wanted me dragged through the dirt a time or two? Some pompous courier that thought I needed to be taught a lesson, no doubt. I guessed that wasn't too unreasonable. I figured that if I was this reckless AFTER being shot, my impetuous habits could only have been worse.

My mind was swimming with painful thoughts, and my body was aching from Doc's surgery. I needed a shot of whiskey.

But I knew, with a mental sigh, that I wasn't exactly the drunken type. The fact that I couldn't remember anything beyond that sucked. Hard. Sure, I could recall that I hadn't hit the hard liquor every night, but useful information evaded my every attempt to recapture moments I'd lost.

Some stuff helped, though. I knew my name. 'Lone Star' Leah. Who'd been the genius behind that one? Also, ED-E struck a metaphorical chord on my mind's guitar. But, again, I didn't know why.

It frustrated me to no end.

I sighed and refocused on my current task.

I walked inside the main office that had once, and still sometimes, been used to check rooms out to tourists, and glanced around. It wasn't very impressive, but I didn't expect a whole lot. A desk with a few Dinky figurines, a couple nuka-cola machines, and a weary woman behind the counter.

"Hi there," She said in a heavy accented voice that I couldn't place. "We don't get many travelers this time of year."

I kept my guard up, but made sure to come off as friendly. "Color me special." I leaned on the counter. "What's up with the dinosaur?"

She smiled. Her face looked awkward like that. Like she wasn't accustomed to looking happy. "Before the great war, I guess it was a tourist landmark. But now it's just a sniper tower. Boone's up there right now."

"Oh." I played dumb. "Yeah Manny told me about him. Said he was kinda hateful. What can you tell me about his wife?"

Her face went back to what seemed to be her natural appearance. It suited her better, that world-weary sadness. "Oh, poor Boone. She went missing about… Well two weeks ago. She was—How do I explain it? A desert flower. Real pretty to look at, but too hard to get close to." The woman who was probably about twenty years my senior clicked her tongue. "We all figured she left for Vegas soon as she found out she was pregnant." She lowered her voice, though there was nobody out and about in this time of night. "We don't think the baby belonged to Boone, you see."

That seemed to be all she was willing to say on the matter.

Her story was sound. The same thing I'd gotten out of Ranger Andy and other wandering members of the town on my way to the main office.

And I didn't buy a minute of it.

There was something in the way she averted my gaze, the way her foot shook behind the desk. She was lying through her teeth.

"Well, thanks for the help." As I prepared to exit to speculate the situation further, I made an impulsive decision. "Oh, and I saw something in front of the dinosaur. Would you mind taking a look?"

She stood and walked past me. "If you say so, dear."

Moron. Didn't even wait for me to lead her out there.

After a quick glance around the room, I noticed a safe underneath a battered rolling chair. Skillfully picking the lock, I went through the contents. A few hundred caps (that I pocketed), and a bunch of old receipts. I picked up one near the top, and scanned the names above the salutations.

My eyes widened.


	4. Chapter 4

*Boone*

I watched skeptically as Jeannie May Crawford strutted in front of the dinosaur. She looked pretty much like her normal self, a slightly pensive look in her eyes. Truthfully, she reminded me vaguely of my own mother. It had been a long time since she'd died, but I could still identify her features with my mom. Jeannie May frowned, examining the area.

"Dammit," I mumbled. Serves me right for hiring some wastelander to do my work. Was she serious? An old lady with maternal tendencies? Come on.

A few minutes of watching Ms. Crawford awkwardly look around later, Leah followed after her. With an expectant glance at me, she put my beret on.

I had half a mind to shoot the angry blonde. Why the hell hadn't she sent Vargas out here? Painful as it was to think of my old best friend as being as cold as to do something like that, I could at least believe it. But Jeannie May?

Looking at her under a metaphorical new light, she didn't look quite as innocent as she had before. She seemed to be avoiding my gaze a little bit too viciously, knowing full well that I was on duty. Did she seem to be shifting uncomfortably? Maybe I was making something into nothing. But, if she was guilty, I wouldn't get this chance again.

But if I did shoot her, and she turned out to be the victim of some psycho blonde's framing, that would be another innocent life to my name. Another strike on the slate. More bad karma aimed directly at me. Haunting me day and night. I didn't know if it was worth risking.

I could just barely make out the voices just below the dinosaur.

"I don't see anything, child."

"I do. I see an old lady with a killer mean streak." I watched as Leah paced a wide circle around the innkeeper. "Literally, and metaphorically."

There was a pause as Leah brought her foot to Jeannie May's shin. A cry of pain reached me as she doubled over, rubbing her sore leg. "What the hell-"

Another screech. "Tell us who you sold Boone's wife to." She let her hand connect with Crawford's jaw.

Jeannie May looked up at me, apology and remorse in her gaze. She turned back to Leah. "Keep your voice down, child,"

That was all the proof I needed. I didn't hesitate again as I glared down my scope.

*Leah*

There was a lot of blood for such a clean shot. I wiped a drop of it off my chin, chanting softly to myself, "Ew, ew, ew…"

I wondered what thoughts were going through the haunted sniper's mind. What had made him take the shot then? I hadn't even forced a confession out of her yet. Not that it mattered. I had the bill of sale that condemned the woman who'd sold a woman and her unborn child to a bunch of crazy sexist pigs in skirts. Not that anyone asked me for my opinion.

As I climbed the stairs to Dinky's mouth, I took slid Boone's beret off my head. Idly, I wondered what outfit he had served with. I didn't know much about this government, but judging by the fact that he and Manny both used snipers and both had the same beret, I assumed that it was a sniper battalion.

I checked my pip-boy for the time. It was a useful little device, as confusing as it was. Had I come from a vault, or stolen this weird computer off a dead body? It was strange, having all these remnants of my past and not having a clue as to how I had obtained them. Same with this tattoo on my chest, just below my collarbone. Three cogs with a sword through the middle. Simple, but it was significant to who I was, I was sure.

I pushed the door open, pausing to let ED-E through the dinosaur's throat. Without turning around, Boone said, "So that's it then. How'd you know?"

I bit my lip. I hated delivering bad news. Even though he already knew of his wife's fate, it was tedious.

Realizing how my silence could be interpreted, I thrust the thin and crumpled paper at him. He took it and skimmed over the words written on the surface. After a moment, he seemed to be looking through it, focusing on some painful edge in his mind. He crumbled the abused paper even more as he tossed it down. "Figures they'd keep a record. Gotta keep their slave ledgers in order." He said bitterly.

Without ever consciously deciding to speak, I found myself asking him, "What will you do now?"

He blew out all the air I suspected he'd been holding in his lungs for a while in one hard breath. "I don't know. I can't stay here anymore, obviously." He looked over at the desert. "Maybe I'll wander, like you."

My heart reached out to him. I'd been there before. I knew the pain of loss, somehow. He was well on his way to acceptance, I could infer, but his attitude seemed to have been permanently altered.

Could I help him heal? Only I would bother to try.

"You could always come with me."

He didn't even appear to have considered it. "You don't want to do that."

I rose an eyebrow. "Don't snipers work in pairs?"

He seemed surprised for a second, then snickered lightly. "Yeah. I guess that's what they always told us. But you know how things turned out with my old spotter."

I grinned. "I'm willing to take the chance."

He studied me for another few seconds, gauging my level of seriousness. "Fine. Let's get out of here." And with that, he snatched his expertly carved hunting rifle from the gums of Dinky and gestured for me to head out first.

Before following me out the door, he replaced his beret on his military shaved head.

We nodded at each other, entering the Mojave as a wandering pair of NCR heroes.

Much fun will most assuredly entail.

Yay! The tedious-been-told-a-million-times part is over! The possibilities are ENDLESS. Stay tuned for the next installment of HDEIUYGS. That's a stupid acronym…

~I have decided that the first 54 pages I have written down will be the first book, and the sequel will actually be in the Capitol like I promised in the summary and first chapter. Sorry, I just had to have background. :3 Still best friends?

~My updates are quite hectic at the moment, I must admit. I spend all day writing this in my journals, so by the time I get home I'm so burnt out that typing for anything other than facebook is like a bullet to the brain. Sorry. I will make them regular eventually!

~I'm not so good at fluff, but since Boone isn't either I figured I'd make it a trend and make Leah all shy too when it comes to romantic affairs. ^_^

~I guess that's it. R&R if you want to assure a speedy update. Or not. I don't really care. It's you that has to wait. I already know what's going to happen beforehand. I am the administrator, after all.

-Kirki


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